


Not today

by Fabulous_ladybug



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-11-03 01:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10956789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabulous_ladybug/pseuds/Fabulous_ladybug
Summary: Lance has a case of the Hanahaki disease. He has ten days to make his unrequited love fall in love with him, but what if the one he's in love with turns out to be who he least expects it to be?





	1. Day 1

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to let him go off with an alien girl. Remember what happened last time?" Pidge raised her glasses at the odd couple.

"Nonsense, Alros are known for their kindness, that and their great variety of plants! Also," Allura smiled at the beautiful pink girl laughing beside Lance. "She seems moonstruck over him." Pidge raised a brow. "Moonstruck?" Shiro stepped in, "head over heels, Pidge." Pidge stuck out her tongue in disgust.

The Paladins were on a planet home to the Alros. Colorful people with slender bodies and wide smiles. They had been under control by Zarkon for centuries until voltron had saved them. They showered the Paladins with gratitude and were holding a feast in their honor.

Lance had caught the eye of a beautiful Alros. Tall with bright blue eyes and pink cheeks. She was giving him a tour of their village. She excitedly led him to her villages greatest pride. "Unrequited, is what they're called." Lance was almost speechless laying his eyes on the flower field. Beautiful red flowers with long blue stained petals were before him. "They're gorgeous," he breathed out.

"They smell terrible though!" Lance chuckled "really? Il have to see for myself." He ran down the hill they were standing on to the flowers. She followed him giggling at how child like he behaved. He stopped as soon as the smell hit him. 

He covered his nose, the smell burning his nostrils. "Doesn't it smell just awful?" She laughed. Lance nodded but he felt the burning growing. The pain was going deeper, he could feel it going down his throat. He wasn't sure if that was normal.

"Lance!" He looked up to see Coran running towards him. But it already had begun, the feeling of something growing deep inside him. Feeling it slither up his throat. He began choking. He clawed at his neck and opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

Coran grabbed his shoulders tightly and made Lance look at him. Coran's eyes went dark. Lance's eyes widened finally coughing up what had been in his throat. He was breathing hard and fast, trying to catch his breathe. His eyes closed and neck scratched. He opened his eyes to see what the hell had tried to kill him. He froze and looked up at Coran for answers. "Coran, why are those petals inside me?"

Coran took Lance to Allura at once and explained the situation. He could see the fear on her face even when she tried desperately to hide it. Allura took Lance's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Lance, what you have is the Hanahaki disease. When someone inhales the seeds from the flower, it immediately sprouts in the lungs of the person and grows." She paused, "until it fills your airway and you suffocate."

"Most aren't effected by the seeds but if someone with an unrequited love, one with feelings that seem unlikely to be returned..." her voice went higher. "If someone like that was introduced to these flowers they might not make it."

Allura looked up to see Lance smiling. "Lance?" He burst into a fit of giggles. "Are you serious? I'm going to choke on flowers because a girl doesn't like me back?"

Allura looked at Coran for back up. He took a step forward and took the Paladin in his arms. "Lance." He said in a low voice that gave Lance chills. "You need to take this seriously. Losing you is not a laughing matter." He flinched in Coran's arms. He distanced himself from Coran. "I'm dealing with this the only way I know how." He sighed. "As long as the girl falls for me Il be fine right? I can do that."

"Lance it's true that if your feelings are returned, and they confess that it's true you'll be fine but-" Lance shrugged. "I'm Lance Mcclain I won't die from a few measly flowers." He says slowing down his words.

He could feel it in his lungs if he spoke too fast or for too long. They ached and burned with what now he knew were flowers. They hadn't stopped hurting since he left the flower field. He noticed he was gripping his shirt rather tightly. He let it go hoping they hadn't noticed the shortness in his breath.

"How long do I have left?" Lance asked. Allura with a grim face answered "ten days at most, if nothing accelerates the process." Lance was quiet for some time. Then he stood up with more energy than Allura and Coran had expected from someone who had just heard they could die in a few days.

"All I have to do is get a confession from a beautiful alien girl." He crossed his arms with a smile on his face. "No problem."

~

"The rest of the Paladins are here now." Coran stepped into the room to find Lance sitting alone. Lance hadn't noticed how much time had passed since the morning when it all started, he turned with a nervous expression. "I'm guessing you want me to tell them about all of this." He smiled down at his trembling hands. "Lance they are your team mates. They should know about what's happening."

"I don't even know what's happening..." Lance gave a tired chuckle. "I'm going to choke on flowers and die? I hate things that romanticize death."

~

The Paladins were all in the control room waiting for Lance's diagnoses. Coran had gathered them together and vaguely explained the situation. The room had a tense atmosphere filled with worry and a slight fear for the worst. They were all on edge, unsure of what was happening, but they did know that Lance was in real danger. "Why are they taking so long?" Keith finally breaks the silence. Hunk doesn't look up. The thought of losing Lance terrorized him. His best friend since back in the garrison. He honestly couldn't even imagine a world without Lance.

Shiro patted him on the back. "No matter what he is infected with we will save him." Shiro proclaimed but there was a slight fear hidden in his voice. Pidge nodded, she had to do her best for Lance. Whatever he has she'll make sure to find a cure. He's family and she'll make sure to never lose her family ever again. 

The door opens to the room and in steps Lance with Coran and Allura by him. All the Paladins are on their feet rushing around Lance. "What's happening? We just got a vague message to come back because Lance was in danger." Shiro's heroic mask disappeared. "Im okay! Im okay! It's a really dumb disease! Il be fine!" Lance chuckled."So i'm throwing up flowers because a girl doesn't like me back." He shrugged. "Lance, it's not that simple." Coran said in a shaky voice.

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked in an attempt to finally get an answer to what is happening. "Lance has been infected with a disease that will kill him if he doesn't get his feelings of love returned." Allura spoke behind Lance. "As we speak flowers are growing in his lungs that let they're petals go. Petals that will fill his lungs and have him choking for ten days before he sufficates.

"What?" They all go. "It's cheesy really, sounds like a badly written story idea." Lance interrupts the tense atmosphere with a giggle.

"Lance aren't you taking this a little too lightly?" Hunk smiled nervously. "Isin't there anything we can do?" Pidge asked. Allura and Coran looked at each other. "It's not something that happens often. Really it's rare, so there are no cures known. Only if the person Lance is in love with confesses with true feelings will the flowers inside him crumble and die."

The whole room went quiet. It was too uncomfortable for Lance, knowing he was the reason why.

"So, I've had a long day." He stretched dramatically. "You guys should get some sleep too. You'll be exhausted by tomorrow if you don't!" He stepped through his team mates to the hallway.He stood with a wide smile waving good bye to his friends as the door closed in front of him.

His shoulders dropped and so did his smile. It didn't really sink in what was going to happen to him. As long as there was a small hope he'd keep going.

"I'm not going to die, Not today."


	2. midnight blooming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Past midnight Lance awakens and receives kindness he wasn't expecting.

He woke up in the middle of the night in a coughing fit. Sweat stained his mattress and tears clouded his vision. It was a pain he had he had been dreading since the first attack. The way his chest aches begging for air. The way the petals trickled up his throat and onto the floor with saliva. It was not a pretty sight in the least. 

Nine more days of this? He stared at the petals in fear, just one attack felt like his throat was being torn open.

His heavy breathing did not stop till a light knock came at his door. He swallowed back his fear and tried to calm himself before having to face anyone.

It was difficult, to hide his worry and thoughts of death. He never gave the thought a glance. Death was such a distant idea to him. Never would he have thought to have such a terrifying experience at such a young age. It was all so wrong.

He didn't deserve this, he was sure he would have married. He would have had a beautiful wife and two kids, a large house by the ocean where he would tell them stories until the sun disappeared.

He didn't deserve this.

He would stay up late at night star gazing. He always wanted to learn the about the constellations, to guide a boat far into the sea without the worry of getting lost.

He didn't deserve this.

To not get lost, to not disappear, to not be forgotten.

HE DID NOT DESERVE-

"Lance?" A small voice came from the other side of the door. Lance was pulled out of his thoughts. He noticed how hard he had grabbed himself. Nail marks dug deep into his arm. It hurt, but nothing compared to how scratched his throat felt from the inside.

He stared at the petals by his side. He sighed before getting off the ground and opening the door. 

He hadn't realized who had been calling him until he stared wide eyed at the culprit.

"Keith? What are you doing here?"

He stared at Lance with hard eyes. It made Lance feel like he was about to be interrogated. He wanted so badly to lighten the mood, it was obvious why Keith was there. They were neighbors, he heard everything.

Keith watched as Lance's hands trembled. How his usual glowing skin looked pale. He could see how tired Lance felt, but Lance was trying so desperately to hide it behind a cocky grin. Keith didn't want Lance to feel helpless, so he said nothing about it.

"It sounded, bad." He finally said after a while of looking over Lance. His eyes stayed on Lance's arms noticing the marks. Lance feeling his gaze felt self conscious and crossed his arms trying to hide them.

"It's fine, How ever perfect I am, I still don't think I can make coughing up flowers sound pleasant." Lance wanted to change the subject quickly. 

The sudden change in Lance's attitude caught Keith off guard and he snorted. Lance had to take a double take. A wide smile appearing on his face.

"You laughed... at my joke."

"I didn't"

"you totally did!" Lance chuckled already forgetting the shyness he felt before. "so you can laugh." Lance teased, enjoying the angry look on Keith's face.

"Of course I can!" Keith crossed his arms beginning to regret coming to check on Lance, but the return of the sparkle in Lance's eyes made him take back that thought. That same confident manner of his which usually irritated him, strangely enough relieved him.

Lance immediately froze from his taunting when he noticed Keith smiling, at him? What did he do? Was it a trap? He really was dying now wasn't he?

"It's late, you really should try to go back to sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day." Keith went back to his neutral face and monotone voice. Lance pouted regretting not having a camera on him. 

"um, thanks Keith." Lance felt embarrassed but it was necessary to say. Keith raised a brow in confusion. "For coming and checking on me, you didn't have to do that.", Lance clarified.

"I did."

Lance returned the curious raised brow. 

"We're a team, a great one."

This time it was Lance's turn to laugh. He held his sides in pain not being able to hold back. "You're right." He glanced back at Keith feeling an unexpected rush. "S-So good night Keith Kogane!"

He shut the door leaving an embarrassed Keith out in the hallway. Lance slid down his door with a chuckle. He closed his eyes with a peaceful expression.

"We really do make a great team don't we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY  
> I moved. There was so much to do and I really had no time to work on chapter 2.   
> Thank you anyways for sticking around. Il do better with posting now.   
> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Day 2

After a refreshing face mask his skin was back to it's glowing self, and so was his confidence. Lance examined himself in the mirror. Changing his poses and flexing his toned muscles. Blowing a few kisses to himself.

He took a step back and really looked at himself. Under his eyes were dark circles, his nightmare on a usual day, but today there were more worrying thoughts on his mind. He only wished that it wasn't too noticeable. 

He decided he would see the Alra girl today. He wanted to see if there was any hope of having her fall for him. If there was, of course he would have to try his best to get her to confess. If not-

No, he wouldn't even let that thought into his mind. He had to try his best, he wanted to live.

~

"Lance!" Allura knocked on his door. "Get up, you shouldn't be hung up on this! Rather go out and show that woman what Lance can do! You may be a terrible flirt, but someone has to like that right? Don't give up! Lance!" She continued to bang on the door waiting for an answer.

A loud yawn behind her surprised her. Hunk rubbed his tired eyes. "He already left with a bouquet." Allura stood taking the time to dream up an impossible situation where the girl confesses the moment she sees him, Lance gets cured and they life happily ever after.

She grins widely, "Everything will work out just fine! That Alra is already captivated by him. Lance will cured!" She clapped her hands together ecstatically. The door beside Lance's opened. Keith walked out having heard everything. 

"Isn't that great? Should we throw a party to celebrate? Lance seems like one to like huge events!" He crossed his arms with a serious face, "But what if it doesn't work? What if she doesn't confess?"

"As long as Lance feels his feelings returned that should kill off the plant in him." Allura put a hand on his shoulders with a gentle smile. "I think it's wonderful that you are worried over your team member, but there is no need! The way she looked at Lance was quite obvious." 

"That obvious?" He mumbled. "Hunk go wake up Pidge, we have a lot of preparations to do. "None of it is Voltron related is it?" Hunk asked. "We'll need a lot of food and decorations." She continued with a giggle. "good luck Lance!"

~

He felt nervous, her feelings depended on what would happen to him.

He stopped himself. No, it's not her fault. Only a coward would blame another. He wasn't like this. Could his fear of death be pushing him over more than he thought? He couldn't even fake a smile, much less an easy going attitude.

Then he saw her. A worried expression on her face and wet eyes. He gave a gentle smile not forced in the least. He really didn't want to see an expression like that on anyone.

"Lance!" she hurried to him as soon as she saw him. What happened yesterday didn't leave her thoughts for a second. Never did she think he would get affected, it was a rare disease after all. 

Once Lance was taken back she went to each doctor trying to find how to help. Studied books to find any hint besides the obvious one of having your feelings returned. It would be conceited of her to think she was the reason.

In the end she found nothing and only cried in defeat knowing that she would have killed her hero, her first love.

She was in front of him now and was too terrified to speak. He must hate her, he had good reason. He was dying and it was her fault. She could only tremble and shake her head trying to apologize.

"L-Lance i'm so-!" She was stopped when he held flowers out to her. She was confused by what was happening. It was obvious on her face and made him chuckle. 

"Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile." Instantly her eyes lit up as she laughed. Lance sighed in relief, this felt so much better. 

He took her to a green spot filled flowers of every color and talked for hours. It felt so right and he felt happy almost forgetting about his dire situation. He turned to look at the sky. It was turning a darker color signifying night fall. 

When he looked back at her she was staring seriously at him. Her pink skin turning red as she blushed. He was about to ask her about it when she lifted her hand to cover his mouth. 

She felt she needed to say it. It was inevitable, she had fallen for him. She took a deep breathe and stared at Lance, making him blush in return. She giggled fathering her courage she spoke the words he wanted to hear. 

"Lance, I love you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school starts in a few days, HA. That will probably make me want to write this instead of doing hw and such.


	4. 6 days left?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If blood makes you uncomfortable you might want to skip the third paragraph.

"It's getting late, shouldn't he be back by now?" Allura stood at the door of the ship waiting for Lance. Shiro was beside her trying to calm her. "He's not a child, he'll be fine." He tried to assure her but even he didn't believe in his own words.

Then a single figure appeared in front of him. Allura jumped, "Is it him? He's alone? I thought-" Then he was close enough to look at. Shiro ran to him as Allura stood shocked. 

Lance could barely see with all the tears streaming down his face. His necked burned inside and out. The attack was incredibly painful, much worse than the night before. He could feel from where he scratched at his neck. He could feel the top of his shirt wet with blood. 

He could barley see Allura or Shiro. By the way Shiro moved he could tell it looked bad. He felt dizzy and stumbled. 

Shiro caught him before he hit the ground. "Lance what happened? Who- what-?" Shiro's chest was in pain seeing Lance like this. Lance tried to speak but nothing came out. "Stop don't say anything." He could see Lance struggling and was too shocked to move.

"Get him to a healing pod! Hurry!" Allura ordered Shiro as she quickly turned to go start the machine. He snapped out of it. He picked up Lance and ran to the healing pod as fast as he could.

Coran was already setting up the machine when Shiro got there. He carefuly placed Lance inside trying not to hurt him. The door shut with Lance inside, he slowly closed his eyes as the machine froze him.

The room was quiet for awhile. Then Allura spoke, "It looked like it was going to work. She really seemed like she would fall in love with him! So why? Why did this happen?" She choked out a sob.

Coran studied Lance's neck, the pod was slowly healing the scratches. His eyes widened as he found the reason why Lance was in such shape. On his collarbone were what looked like black roots, it was a symptom of the fourth day of the disease.

"she did confess." He turned to the princess.

"She's not the one he's in love with. Her confession only sped up the process. He must have felt nothing change after that, the plant felt his total despair of the situation and grew faster. Negative emotions are what fuels the plant after all." 

"Why didn't you tell Lance before? He could have avoided this!" Shiro was now angry. "information like that throws you into despair! Always having to force happiness even in terrible situations does not help in the least. It makes you feel even worse." Coran answered.

"Humans are fragile, I could only believe in Lance's confident personality to keep him intact. I didn't know his fears would do this much damage." He spoke with an undertone of self hatred.

The door opened and in rushed the rest of the paladins. "What happened?" Keith asked his eyes not leaving Lance. He couldn't hide the rage in his voice. "Wasn't she suppose to have solved this problem?"

Hunk and Pidge stared up at Lance in silence. "Are we actually going to lose Lance?" Hunk asked. "This was supposed to be a break for us. Why is Lance a few days away from dying?" He hit another pod out of anger. "Why is this happening?" He kneeled down in defeat.

Pidge said nothing, all she wanted to do is go back to her room. To research all she could on this subject. There had to be a cure, if there wasn't one she was going to make it. Seeing Lance the goofball with a pained expression hurt her. She promised herself she wouldn't lose her family again.

Keith glared, he was angry. He was angry at the girl who took him to the field of those poisonous flowers. He was angry at this situation, angry at Lance for getting himself in this situation. He was angry at himself for not being able to do anything. For the first time in a long time he felt weak. He couldn't protect those close to him.

"Why did it have to be Lance?" He screamed out making everyone jump. 

"How long will Lance be in there?" Shiro asked Coran.

"You'll see him in the morning." Was all he could say. If the fourth day symptoms are appearing already he couldn't be sure how much longer Lance really had. What would happen if Lance has a huge heart breaking moment? Couldn't the plant grow enough to kill him in that instant?

For the hanahaki to be a beautiful flower It is such an ugly disease.

~

"How do you feel Lance?"

"Way better than yesterday." He ran his fingers down his neck to his collarbone. Feeling the black roots growing there. "well besides this."

He looked up at Coran who had dark circles. He had just gotten out of the pod a few minutes ago, but it looks like Coran was here all night watching over him. He felt a little guilt but felt a new trust he didn't have with him before.

Coran properly explained everything to Lance. To losing a day over a heart break to the reason he wasn't cured was because she wasn't the one he loved.

"So i have six days left and I still don't know who i'm in love with." Lance sighed.

Coran felt the way Lance was treating all of this wasn't healthy. He had only seen Lance cry over the pain but never out of the emotions he must be bottling up. That couldn't be helping to slow the rate of the plant's growth. 

Teenagers weren't the kind to open up to adult figures so easily. They open up to each other, friends. 

At the perfect moment the doors open and in steps Keith.

This could be what saves Lance's life.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfiction on this website. Thank you for reading!


End file.
